


One More Night

by kasey1939



Series: One More [1]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Abuse, Blackmail, Bottom Ian, Dubious Consent, M/M, Top Mickey, Violence, anger issues, dominant mickey, possessive mickey, protective gallaghers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2018-04-05 01:39:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4160769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kasey1939/pseuds/kasey1939
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Mickey's first time with Ian they both think that would be the end of it but when Mickey can't stop thinking about Ian he decides they have to be together no matter what Ian thinks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. No Repeats

**Author's Note:**

> [](http://s1063.photobucket.com/user/kasey19391/media/Done%20Story%20Banners/one%20more%20night.jpg.html)
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> 

**Disclaimer : I own nothing canon related for Shameless, that all belongs to people far more talented and successful than I am. I just take the characters and put them in messed up situations for my own amusement and the amusement of others, and I do it all for free.**

  
  


Ian didn’t know what he was going to do; all he knew was that he had to get the gun back from Mickey. Linda was threatening to go to the cops and he shuddered to think what would happen if she did that. Everyone in the neighborhood gave the Milkovich family a pass when they did things. If you went to the cops about one of them, sure _that one_ might go to jail for a little while, but it was guaranteed to be a short lived victory.

Not to mention Mickey’s dad Terry had gotten out of prison the day before and he already hated Kash, he didn’t need to be given another reason to do harm to him. No way around it, it would be Kash they hurt. They didn’t have many rules but one of the few they did live by was no harming children under fourteen, unless the Milkovich doing the harm was under fourteen to, and since Linda was hardly ever in the store, when they’d go looking Kash would be the one they’d find.

By the time he reached the house he was out of breathe and still no closer to a plan than he’d been when he first stepped out of the store. The empty cups and burned patches on the front lawn told him that Terry had made it home the night before. Running up the steps he looked around for some sort of weapon, knowing he’d be able to find one fairly easily. Spotting the crowbar he took a moment to brace himself before he quickly and quietly opened the front door. 

Slowly he made his way inside finding Terry passed out on the couch in nothing but his boxers, a sight he could have gone his entire life without, and no sign of anyone else. Assuming Mickey was in his room he cautiously made his way, knowing that if the elder Milkovich woke to find him creeping around his home with a weapon in hand he would likely die surrounded by empty beer cans and dirty laundry. The sign on Mickey’s door read **Stay The Fuck Out** and oh if only he could. Opening the door slightly he slipped inside to find Mickey face down on the bed. Closing the door behind him he stood for a moment gathering his courage before he tapped his back, lightly, with his weapon, which he now thought was a poor choice of defense. He watched as Mickey lifted his head grunting at being disturbed before glancing over his shoulder.

“I want the gun Mickey!” Best to start forceful.

“Gallagher?” He heard the surprise in his voice and didn’t really know how to respond. When in doubt just repeat yourself, that’s what his sister did.

“I want Kash’s gun back now!” See still forceful.

“Alright, alright.” He couldn’t believe it was that easy as he watched Mickey reach for the drawer at the side of his bed he leaned in slightly to make sure the gun was really there. Big mistake.

When Mickey had felt the poke on his back he’d expected it would be one of his stupid brothers. Instead when he looked he found that fuckwit Ian Gallagher standing over him holding a crowbar making demands. That stupid shit actually thought he could come into his house, into his room, and just take something from him. Like hell! He made a move to open the drawer closest to him acting like he was just gonna give in and he waited for his opening. He didn’t have to wait long, the fucker really was stupid. He waited until he was close enough before he came up off the bed using his momentum to throw him against the wall hard enough that when he hit the bed he was stunned for a moment.

Knowing how easily even a seconds hesitation could turn a fight against you he jumped on him. He grabbed the gingers arm and slammed it against the same wall he’d thrown him into just moments before; hard enough to make him open his hand and drop the crowbar. Surprisingly, he didn’t just lay there and take it like a girl, he found himself being thrown back a step. Gallagher jumped up following him forcefully grabbing both his arms and throwing him across the room into his dresser with an impressive show of strength. Then he watched him make another mistake, his last. Instead of continuing the fight one on one or even running for the door he turned back and tried to reach across the bed for the crowbar.

He scrambled to get there first, crawling on top of the little bastard he put him in a chokehold while he reached up and finally felt his fingers meet cold metal. Clutching it in an iron grip he sat up slightly, flipping the red head over in the process. Now his knees were on either side of his head and he was sitting on Gallagher’s chest effectively pinning his upper arms making it impossible for him to do more than put his hands weakly in front of his face. He drew his arm back prepared to beat him within an inch of his pathetic life with the “weapon” he’d threatened him with, but looking down at his face he stopped.

The fight had gotten his blood pumping and now looking down at the little ginger he had pinned under him on his bed he wanted to get his blood going in another way. At first he was just going to use that need to add to the beating, but then he saw the spark of interest flare in the fuckers eyes. Who knew.

Dropping the crowbar off the side of the bed he moved back a little as he started to pull his shirt off feeling firecrotch shift under him to do the same. Looking up he found himself staring at a pale creamy muscular chest. Gallagher was toned who knew.

Ian had been stunned when Mickey started yanking his clothes off but that didn’t last long. He told himself he was doing this because it was either get fucked or get beat. That lie lasted until he saw Mickey without his shirt. Under all the dirt and grime was one hell of a body. He felt his heart begin to race in a way it never had before, not for Kash, hell not even for Rodger Spikey. Donkey dick Roger Spikey had just been a onetime thing, his first time, and sort of an experiment. While he was packed he hadn’t really been much to look at. Kash had started on accident and had really been kept up for convenience. He cared about him, he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t, but he always knew his married older boss was only ever going to be a passing thing, so like Spikey the fact that he was a little bit on the pudgy side didn’t really bother him.

Mickey was the first guy he’d ever been with who was able to make him hot with just the sight of his bare chest. By the time they both had all their clothes off he found himself face down on the mattress, he supposed he’d known from the second they’d started this that he was going to be topped for the first time. Mickey wasn’t really the type to give up control of any situation he doubted sex would be any different.

He felt Mickey’s weight leave him for a moment, before he could turn to find out why he was back and he heard the crinkle of a wrapper. A condom. For some reason he hadn’t really expected that from Mickey. A few moments later he felt his hips being held in a tight grip as Mickey pulled him up onto his hands and knees. Slightly worried now he tried to protest.

“Mickey I’ve never…” He was cut off by Mickey’s light chuckle of amusement.

“Shut up Gallagher.”

He figured that was a good idea, pissing off the neighborhood psycho while he was on top of you… not the best idea. Closing his eyes he tried to relax and trust Mickey. There was a thought he never thought he’d ever have racing across his mind.

Mickey watched Gallagher close his eyes and force every muscle in his body to relax. The idea that Gallagher was a top was actually kind of funny. The little twit never really demonstrated much in the way of dominance. What kind of weak fucks did he go for? Why was he wasting time thinking about this? He needed to speed this up but for some reason knowing he would be the only one to ever have been in his tight ass made his shake with anticipation and want to draw it out. To hell with that! Though since he would be popping the little bastards cherry he supposed he could prepare him a little.

Moving one hand from the little twats hip he slowly slipped one finger into his tight ass. He felt him tense for a minute before again forcing himself to go boneless. Good boy. The second finger went in much easier, when he began to scissor them to help stretch him a bit to get him ready for the main event he couldn’t help but smile at the sound he heard escape the little pricks mouth. Damn a few fingers and he was moaning like a bitch, he couldn’t wait to hear what sounds he made next. The thought had just entered his mind when he viciously shut it down. Pulling his hand free he lined himself up before leaning over his back until his mouth was next to his ear.

“One sound out of you and I will beat you to death.” 

A little pressure and he felt heaven its self. Gallagher was… fuck he was so tight. When he was finally all the way in he stopped for a second holding still. More for his pleasure then Gallaghers comfort, he’d never felt like this before. After a minute of savoring the feel of being held tight he began to move. Slowly at first, but he couldn’t hold back for very long before his thrusts grew faster and harder. Gallagher was doing good to, after the first thrust he buried his head in the pillow to muffle to moans he couldn’t hold back. One final hard thrust and he was coming harder than he ever had before. Fuck!

Ian couldn’t even scream his release he didn’t have enough air left in his starved lungs. God he felt boneless, Mickey rolled off of him almost instantly leaving him feeling a little unsatisfied for some reason. When his clothes were tossed at him he took the hint, he’d just finished getting dressed and was reaching for his jacket when Terry came storming through to get to the bathroom. Mickey must of heard something he hadn’t and he could only be grateful for it, the last thing he needed was to have to deal with an enraged, homophobic, Terry Milkovich.

Mickey who hadn’t bothered with a shirt, just pants leaving his chest on display, went to the dresser after his dad left again and turned back to hand him Kash’s gun without a word before heading to the bathroom himself. Knowing he’d been dismissed he tucked the gun away before making his way out of the house. On the way back to the Kash-n-Grab he couldn’t help but feel a little dirty, like a whore. At least he knew it wouldn’t happen again. Guys like Mickey never did repeats.


	2. The Start of Something New

[](http://s1063.photobucket.com/user/kasey19391/media/Chapter%20art/One%20more%20night/Chapter%202.jpg.html)

  


Ian laid on his bed in the dark too wired to sleep. Linda had found out about him and Kash and had put a stop to their, whatever the hell they had. The end of his “relationship” wasn’t what was keeping him up though. No, what was keeping him up was the fact that it ending didn’t bother him as much today as it would have yesterday.

Not as much as it would have before Mickey. 

He knew he was being stupid thinking about him, especially since he knew Mickey wasn’t likely to give him even a passing thought, but he just couldn’t help himself. He was lusting after Mickey fucking Milkovich. 

That alone should scare him so much he never thought about him again, but fear wasn’t the response he was feeling. Oh, it was there, everyone feared the Milkovich family, but it just wasn’t enough to make him stop thinking about what they had done, and it definitely wasn’t enough to make him stop wanting to do it again. 

He was fucked.

Mickey woke earlier than usual. It took him a moment to figure out why and the reason he found could be summed up into one word. 

Gallagher. 

That red head just wouldn’t leave his dreams last night. He’d never been this obsessed about anyone before. Now that he was though there was really only one solution, if firecrotch wouldn’t get out of his head then he would just fuck him out of his system. 

Smelling bacon he decided that since he was up he might as well go have breakfast with the family. Pulling on his clothes he made it out just in time to see everyone sitting in the living room watching TV with plates laden down with food, most of which was landing on the floor. His sister seeing him standing there gave him a shy smile before fixing him a plate of his own. Out of all his family Mandy was hands down his favorite so in a spur of the moment show of affection he kissed her cheek in thanks when she handed him his food. 

Once he was seated he waited for her before he said anything, he hated repeating himself.

“I got a new boy.”

Everyone stopped eating for a moment each, he thought, making a mental guess about who it was. His father Terry never stopped eating. He used to be terrified of his father he remembered.

A few years ago when his dad first found out that Mickey was gay he’d nearly pissed himself in fear of what was gonna happen to him. Milkovich’s never killed family, but that didn’t mean you wouldn’t still die, they’d just keep putting you in bad situations until your brain caught on to the fact that you were already dead and your body stayed down. He took it, every bad run, every fucked up job, thinking his family was right and he deserved to die. For over a year he put up with it until one day he looked up and realized he was still alive after all that time. Around that same time Terry realized the same thing and in true Milkovich fashion he threw the rules to the wind and attacked Mickey himself. 

Terry Milkovich would not have a faggot for a son! 

To this day Mickey didn’t know who was more surprised when Mickey won the fight and held his father’s life in his hands. He’d let him live, not out of some kind of love or mercy, no it had been Mandy standing behind him screaming for him to let Terry go that had decided it. 

After that Terry changed his tune. Faggot Mickey might be but Milkovich he was to the bone. 

From that day on the family shifted so that Mickey was in charge, outside their house everyone who lived in south side still thought Terry was king and Mickey was fine letting them think it, because everyone within these walls knew the truth. Terry was king only because Mickey allowed it. The family still treated queers the same with one notable exception, if Mickey claimed someone as a partner they were off limits, at least until Mickey was done with them. Once Mickey grew tired of them which usually took no longer than a week the entire Milkovich clan gave him the beating of his life before chucking him out with the trash. 

None of Mickey’s “boys” ever spoke of their time with Mickey all preferring to let the world think they’d been beaten for some other reason, all instinctively knowing that if they outed Mickey their farewell beating would look like a love tap once his family was through with them.

Mickey pulled himself out of his thoughts at the sound of his sister’s voice.

“Who is it?” Out of all of them Mandy had been the most accepting of him, he remembered once Terry had announced his sin to the family Mandy had just hugged him before pulling away to ask stupidly hilarious questions about his dick.

“Ian Gallagher.” He watched surprise fill her eyes, he knew Ian was her friend, fuck he was basically her only friend. If he had been a better person he would have left the little ginger alone, but Gallagher wouldn’t get out of his head, and he’d never really been a good person.

“Oh.” Was her only response. Yeah oh was right.

Ian was sitting at the register bored out of his mind as usual, only now he didn’t even have sex with Kash to look forward to, when he heard the bell above the door. This in its self wasn’t unusual but right after that he heard the lock turn making him look up. There in the doorway flipping the open sign to closed stood Mickey. 

Fuck! 

He thought about trying to run, but there really wasn’t a back way out other than the loading dock which was closed and wouldn’t open fast enough to make a difference. So instead he decided to wait and silently prayed his life wouldn’t end in a convenience store where he worked for minimum wage. Cause that would just suck.

“You, backroom, now.” Yeah this wasn’t going to end well at all Ian thought as he slowly stood and walked to the stockroom.

Mickey watched Gallagher walk ahead of him and had to fight to keep from laughing. The boy was terrified, though he hid it well, but he still went where Mickey told him to go. This was going to be fun.

“Alright Gallagher, formalities out of the way first then we’ll get to the fucking we both want. These are the rules you will follow listen good cause I’m only gonna tell you this once next time you hear them will be if I punish you for breaking them. We clear?” He took the blank expression of confusion as a yes.

“Rule one, you don’t fuck anyone else. Rule two, you don’t tell no one about this. Rule three, your mouth is for sucking my cock not talking back to me or talking about me. Rule four, when you’re with me you don’t speak without permission in fact you don’t do anything without permission. Rule five, when I tell you to do something you damn well do it. Finally, rule six, these rules are always in effect even when I’m not with you for as long as your ass belongs to me and your ass does belong to me. Got it?” Another blank expression, poor Gallagher looked so confused.

“Good, now strip!” First test of the rules, rule five do as you’re told. Time to see if firecrotch was smart enough to listen, after a few seconds and a raised brow from Mickey Ian began to disrobe slowly almost hesitantly.

“Come on Gallagher, I’ve already seen it all before!”

That got him moving and within minutes he was standing in front of a very naked Gallagher, and wasn’t that a sight. He hadn’t really had time to look before, but now he had all the time in the world really.

“Damn Gallagher, where you been hiding that body?”

“You’re one to talk.” This was said with a bit of a leer from the red head that Mickey answered with his usual smirk. So Gallagher was warm for his form huh, good to know.

“Shut up and turn around.”

Ian turned around still a little terrified, well more than a little if he was being honest. The only thoughts really running through his head were, Mickey is gay and Mickey isn’t here to kill me. 

All of Mickey’s talk of rules and such made him a little uneasy. He’d only ever been with two guys before and only ever been topped by Mickey the idea of Mickey staking a claim on him filled him with mixed emotions. One part of him, the Irish in him most likely, demanded he rebel against it luckily the more sane parts of him easily subdued that small spark of insanity. Another part of him was terrified of Mickey as a general life rule and knew that defiance would not be tolerated lightly and knowing Mickey those punishments he touched on earlier would not be easily forgotten. Then there was an even larger part of him, one he never even knew existed before now, a part that thrilled at the thought of being taken by Mickey of surrendering control and simply doing as he was told.

Gallagher’s as a general rule balked at authority and restrictions. In his entire life he’d never heard a rule he didn’t immediately want to break. At least he hadn’t until Mickey came along and set down his rules. There was something in the way he said them that told Ian that breaking these rules would cause him unending pain and he believed that wholeheartedly.

His thoughts came to an abrupt end when he felt Mickey take hold of his wrists, he forced his arms to reach up and out until they came in contact with the metal sides of one of the storage racks.

“Hold on tight, firecrotch.” His thoughts had come full circle since Mickey first came into the store and with Mickey’s first thrust he was back to his first thought all over again. 

Fuck!

The next few weeks continued on much the same way with the notable exception of their mother Monica showing up on the Gallagher front steps looking to be let back in with the new addition of her girlfriend Roberta. Ian tried not to think about his mother too much he knew she was up to something but hadn’t been able to work out just what yet, but he would he knew that between him, Lip, and Fiona they always did. 

Glancing up as the door opened he saw Mickey flipping the sign and knew this was quickly becoming the best part of his day. Maybe now he could forget if only for a while the hell his life had become.

The second he hung up from Linda, the news of the baby echoing in his mind, Kash ran for the stairs and Ian. When is wife had laid down the law and told him he couldn’t be with Ian until she was pregnant again he thought he was in for a long wait, it had always taken months before but now less than a month later the ban was lifted. As he ran into the store shouting the good news he found he couldn’t find Ian anywhere. Thinking maybe he was stocking the coolers he opened the door to the storeroom and froze.

There on his hands and knees rocking forward with every thrust was Ian. 

He could tell the boy knew he was there by his clenched fists and the blush working its way up his neck to his face, but the hand pressed to the center of his back held him in place. Looking up from that hand he found Mickey Milkovich grinning at him with smug satisfaction in his eyes. Backing out of the room and letting the door close he fought the despair that threatened to overwhelm him. While he’d known all along that he had no future with Ian, he had loved him on some level and seeing him like that with… Mickey filled him with equal parts sorrow and rage.

Mickey wanted to laugh as he watched the door close. When they’d heard the man calling Ian had tried to get up, one shove of his hand and a word of warning was all it took to keep him in place. 

When the door first opened Gallagher tensed every muscle in his body and it felt like heaven. Looking into the old pervs eyes and watching him shatter with every thrust made it all even better. 

Now that they were alone again he took his time making sure to draw out every moan of ecstasy. When he noticed Ian biting his lip and trying to hold back his sounds of pleasure he would have none of it. One slap to the boys ass and a hard thrust broke that barrier to pieces. No one stifled Ian’s moans of pleasure but him. Thoughts of their first time together coupled with the pleasure of this time had him coming fast and one final thrust had firecrotch following. 

As he watched Ian drag on his clothes, shame coloring his face he smirked.

“Go on home Gallagher. Kash will cover the rest of your shift for you.” He watched the urge to fight come and quickly fade. Good boy. 

He watched him walk quickly past his boss without once looking up and quickly run out the door. Now he and Ian’s ex had a few things to discuss. This should be fun.

Kash watched Ian practically run out and moved to follow, he still had four hours to his shift.

“Let him go.”

He froze in place behind the counter. He’d forgotten about Mickey something he’d never done before and something that would likely never happen again. Not after today. Turning to face the boy he found the same smug smile on his face as before. The bastard.

“Me and you we got things to say and you can work his hours. It is your store after all.”

“What do you want Mickey.” He’d never taken that tone with a Milkovich before, obviously his brain had stopped working.

“Forceful, way to go you found your nuts. Here I thought the little wifey had permanently snatched them away from ya. As for what I want, that’s easy, I want what I have… Gallagher. You aren’t thinking about trying to keep me from what I want are you? Cause I gotta tell ya not a smart move. Not smart at all.”

The thought of this… thug with his hands on Ian filled him with rage. For once he let the rage run wild.

“You were right before Mickey this is my store. I think I’ll have you banned and of course with the baby on the way I’ll have to increase Ian’s hours. I may even have you prosecuted for all the theft over the years.” He watched the bastard pick up a snickers and take a bite like he hadn’t heard a word he’d said.

“You could do all those things, sure. Then I could have Ian go to the cops about your illegal sex shit. How do you think the rest of the neighborhood, especially my family, will react to that?” He felt cold fear seep into his bones with every word that fell from Mickey’s mouth. He wouldn’t!

“Ian would never do that!”

“He would if I told him to. As you saw in the storeroom it would be one of the better things I’ve had him do for me.”

He was talking about Ian as if he were some pet, a dog, meant to do tricks on command. Of all the nerve.

“You talk about Ian like you own him.” The next words nearly stopped his heart.

“I do, and there’s nothing you or anyone else can do about it. You see I always get what I want. Right now what I want is Gallagher. If you try and get in my way I will destroy you, burn your life to the ground, then step over the ashes and get him anyway. Go ahead step up if you’re feeling brave today, just remember what’ll happen tomorrow.” With that Mickey left the store in that moment he knew two things, what he wanted to do and what he was going to do. 

Unfortunately the two did not match because no matter how angry he was at heart he was a coward and he knew it, even worse Mickey knew it. Feeling all of his anger drain away he sank down onto the stool behind the counter and set to work completing Ian’s shift.

Ian laid in his bed listening to Monica laugh and Lip curse and couldn’t help but wonder what tomorrow would bring. Lip had figured out Monica’s angle, she and her ghetto girlfriend weren’t here for all of them just for Liam and if they had their way they’d be leaving with him. He knew Fiona would fight it that was a given but everyone knew their sister wouldn’t have a legal leg to stand on. Their only chance would be to figure out their plan and in true Gallagher tradition wreck it beyond repair to that end he and Lip were gonna shadow them the next day instead of going to school to try and piece it together. He didn’t have work the next day either which considering how he’d left today was a blessing. 

He didn’t know what to do anymore. Maybe he’d run it all by Lip tomorrow his brother was always good at sorting out the mess that was life on the south side maybe he would be able to help him see his way through this.


	3. Truth and Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ian doesn't know what to do anymore so... Ian has a conversation with Lip... Lip has a talk with Mandy... Mandy says things to Mickey... and Mickey goes to see Ian.

[](http://s1063.photobucket.com/user/kasey19391/media/Chapter%20art/One%20more%20night/Chapter%203.jpg.html)

  


Ian sat in the car next to Lip and waited for Monica and her girlfriend to come out of the paternity office and tried to figure out how to start the conversation he wanted to have. Even though Lip knew he was gay, one of the only people he was out to, he still couldn't bring himself to bring up the change in his love life.

"So, what's going on with you?" Shit!

"What do you mean?"

"Dude I think your ears were about to smoke you were thinking so hard. So, I figured I could continue to let you fidget in your seat while you try to come up with a way to bring up whatever the hell it is. Or I could start the conversation myself and see how it went, so what's going on with you?"

Wow, he hadn't realized he was that transparent. Now what? Should he circle around it a few times or should he just come right out with it? Hell, this was Lip the one person he could really talk to about this stuff, here goes nothing.

"I broke up with Kash." There start small.

"Good! I hated that guy. So what you finally come to your senses?"

He looked over to see the smile on his brothers’ face and finally realized just how much Lip had hated Kash.

"Linda found out about us and, I uh, I had sex with someone else so we just stopped for a while. Linda wanted another baby so she said Kash couldn't be with me until she got pregnant. Then while we were not a thing, me and this other guy sort of became a thing, and then after Linda got pregnant Kash came to tell me and found me with the other guy in the stockroom and kind of flipped and I haven't been back to work yet to see what's happening." There, now he had the overview out, it was time for the hard part.

"Wow, man, uh who's the other guy? Anyone I know?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah! Jesus, who?"

He knew before he said it that the moment the name passed his lips his brothers’ amusement would take a hell of a dive, but damn it he needed to talk with someone!

"Mickey." The shocked silence that filled the car wasn't unexpected but it still made him uncomfortable. It felt like his brother was judging him even though he knew he never would.

"Mickey? Milkovich?"

"Yeah."

"Oh my god Ian! Are you crazy? You came on to a homophobic Milkovich? What the hell? Do you have a death wish or something?"

"It wasn't like that."

"What was it like then?"

And just like that the damn broke and he told him everything from the beginning. When he finally finished with Kash walking in on them the silence that filled the car was entirely different chancing a glance over at his brother he saw something he never thought he'd see in his entire life. His wordy genius brother was stunned speechless. 

Lip didn't know what to do. His entire life he'd been able to solve every problem his little brother came to him with, all it usually took was a bit of common sense and a calm temper to think things through, but this? This was something else entirely. This was Mickey Fucking Milkovich. For all his supposed genius IQ he was not equipped to deal with this. However, if eighteen years of problem solving had taught him anything it was that no challenge was insurmountable if you had enough information. So now here he was outside of the Milkovich lair of darkness and dread searching for that missing information the only place he knew he had a snowballs chance in hell of finding it. 

If you want to know about a Milkovich you had to ask another Milkovich. With a little luck and a lot of prayer he might not die in the process.

Just as he raised his hand to know the door swung open and his heart stopped for a moment expecting Terry before he realized it was Mandy standing there looking at him like his wits had deserted him. Which for a moment of blind panicky fear they had, but thankfully his courage had returned just as quickly as it had fled.

"Mandy hey."

"Hi Lip. What ya doing here? You looking to score or something?"

"What? No! I just well, can you and I maybe go for a walk and talk?"

"Talk huh? Well there's one I've never heard before." 

He could tell by her expression that she was seconds away from calling him a perv and slamming the door in his face. Thinking fast he did the only thing he could to get the information he needed and he hoped to God it was the right thing to do even as he opened his mouth.

"It's about Ian."

Just like that she changed. Her hard eyes went soft and seemed to glow with an inner light of love or something and her entire face morphed into something less scary and if he was being completely honest more beautiful. Wow she really had it bad for his brother, or maybe she just loved the fact that she had a friend now. As far as he knew Ian was the only boy in her life besides her family, and maybe not even them, who never wanted anything from her and just liked being around her for her and not what he was going to get out of her.

"What about Ian? He's okay right?"

"Well, that's just it I'm not so sure if he is okay. That's why I was hoping you and I could talk."

"Yeah, alright, sure just let me get my jacket."

He really hoped he was doing the right thing, but as far as he could tell he was doing the only thing he could. He needed information if he was going to help his brother and since Ian wouldn't give it to him and going to Mickey was out of the question Mandy as Mickey's sister and Ian's best friend was sort of his only hope. As he watched her jog down her front steps towards him he thought again of how pretty she was before shaking himself. This was about Ian not about his dick, he needed to focus if he was going to figure this out.

Mandy walked around the block again. She knew she was being a coward but after her conversation with Lip she just didn't want to deal with what was coming next. A part of her wished she could just ignore the fact that Lip was asking questions about Mickey and Ian but she knew she couldn't. If she ignored it and Lip went to someone else or said the wrong thing to the wrong person and Mickey found out she knew ahead of time and didn't tell him. She shivered not even wanting to think about what he would do then. She knew Mickey loved her, but with Mickey just because he loved you didn't mean he wouldn't hurt you. She asked him about it once, why hurt the ones you love, he told her it was because he loved them that he wanted them to learn to be better. She didn't know if she agreed with that but her opinion wasn't needed so she kept it to herself.

She didn't want to be the cause of Ian getting hurt now, but if she waited and Lip got stupid about this stuff he thought he knew, it would be alot worse later. Mind finally made up she walked up the front steps into her house and called out for Mickey.

Mickey could not believe that Ian had been so stupid. He thought that he had understood the rules, he'd gone so long without breaking one, but it would seem he was wrong. Ian had been talking to Lip about him breaking rules two and three. Don't tell anyone about this and don’t talk about me with other people. Oh well, what's done is done and now he just had to make sure firecrotch learned his lesson and didn't do it again.

Ian sat at the register at the Kash-n-Grab and tried not to squirm. First Kash wouldn't even look at him opting to leave on "errands" rather than stay in the same building as he was. Then Mickey was late. He knew they didn't have a set time when he would come around but he always seemed to come at the same time anyway, showing up at a quarter til one. It was already half past two and still no Mickey. Today was a holiday and Linda left him to close up at three for her while she took her kids to some sort of play or something to try and give them more culture.

Getting up to lock the door and count up the end of day in his till he was halfway to the door when it opened and in walked Mickey. For a minute he was relieved to see him but then he got a good look at his face and knew that he was in trouble. He watched him turn the lock and flip the sign and tried to stay still. Every instinct he had was screaming at him to run, but common sense prevailed and he knew that running would just make everything so much worse.

Mickey watched Ian stiffen and knew the boy saw it coming, probably his expression, and he liked him all the more for standing his ground. So many others had tried to run in the past, like getting away from him at that moment would somehow make his anger disappear, like he wouldn't find them. Looking at Ian for a moment he made his decision and jerked his head towards the stockroom. Watching him turn and slowly walk towards "their room" he followed close behind slowly taking off his belt as he went. 

"You've been talking to your brother about us Ian. That breaks two rules do you remember which ones?"

Every muscle in Ian's body froze. He tried to remember the rules but his fear was pushing every thought out of his mind. Keeping his back to Mickey he tried to think about what to say next, but all he could think about was what Mickey had said about breaking the rules and how he wouldn't like the punishment. He really didn't want to find out first hand if he was right about that.

"Um, rules two and uh, well..."

"Rules two and three. You'd been doing so well too. I thought you understood what to do then my sister comes to me and tells me that Lip is asking her all kinds of questions about me. About my relationship with you. Now where do you think he got the idea from?"

"Mickey, I'm sorry I just, I only wanted his advice on what to do about Kash and we were talking and I don't know it just came out. I'm sorry I'll never do it again I swear."

He knew that pleading and promising wouldn't do much to help him, but he had to try. 

"I know you won't and you want to know why I know that. Because you're gonna remember your punishment for it for the rest of our relationship. Turn around Ian."

For a minute he had the crazy thought to defy him and just not look. He didn't want to see what Mickey had planned, but he knew that breaking another rule wasn't the way to do this. Turning he saw Mickey, with his belt in his hand and felt his eyes widen. What was Mickey gonna do?

"Don't worry I'm not gonna hit you with it. I save that for when you're being willful. Right now I want you to get down on your knees."

He waited while the little ginger hesitated all he had to do was raise one eyebrow and Gallagher cringed but he still didn't sink to his knees. Oh he was going to be stubborn about this. One backhanded slap had him falling to his knees the corner of his mouth bleeding. For a moment he looked like he was going to try and get back to his feet but after a second he stayed down. See he knew he was a smart boy; he just needed little reminders of his place is all. 

Reaching up he looped his belt around Ian's neck before sliding it through the buckle and pulling it tight around his throat wrapping the end around his fist a few times to make it even tighter.

"Now put that busy little mouth of yours to work doing something other than breaking my rules. And keep your hands behind your back."

He watched Ian hesitate again, they really were gonna have to work on that, before reaching out and freeing him from his pants. Watching him he waited until his lips closed around his tip before he pulled on the belt tightening it even further while simultaneously placing his hand to the back of his head to hold him still while he thrust forward fucking his tight throat. Repeating his rules with each thrust to help him remember. 

By the time they reached the last rule he was so close. Ian's face was turning a bright red and his hands were fisted behind his back while he struggled to breathe. With one final thrust he finally came and watched as firecrotch choked on mouthful after mouthful of his hot cum.

When he was finally spent he pulled himself free of his mouth and pulled his belt free at the same time allowing Ian to breathe again. He watched as a small puddle of his cum fell to the floor as Ian coughed and tried to draw air into his starved lungs.

"Look at the mess you've made. Lick. It. Up." 

He waited until Ian was on his hands and knees licking at the cum on the concrete floor before he started speaking again. 

"You're not gonna go around talking about me again are you Ian?"

"No, I swear."

"Good boy."

Lip sat on his bed trying and failing not to worry about Ian. He'd had a half day at work today and should have been home hours ago. Fiona had been worried to, but he'd lied and told her Ian had said he'd stay over with Mandy tonight, not wanting her to wait up for him. 

He knew something must have happened and he was afraid that, that something had to do with Mickey and that whatever it was, it was his fault. He never should have gone to Mandy he should have gone to Fiona right when he found out, but he hadn't wanted to snitch his little brothers secret. 

He was in the middle of imagining Ian dead in a ditch somewhere like some kind of single child parent on prom night when the bedroom door opened and Ian slipped inside. It was dark so he couldn't see his face but he would know his brother anywhere.

"Ian."

He watched his brother jump in fear and knew something had happened. Not waiting for his brother to lie to him he stood up striding across the room in three steps and grabbed him by the arm dragging him out of the dark bedroom and into the bathroom. This way they could talk without waking Carl. Flipping the light on he turned to ask his brother what happened and froze. 

Ian's neck was a ring of bruises like someone, like Mickey, had tried to choke the life out of him. His bottom lip was swollen and looked like it had just barely stopped bleeding from the cut in the corner and his left eye was discolored and slightly swollen as well. 

"What the hell Ian! Did Mickey do this to you?"

"Calm down Lip it isn't that bad. By morning it'll barely be noticeable. If you'd been asleep when I got home like you were supposed to be you never would have known."

"Barely be noticeable. Well, hell I know now Ian. What happened? Did he do this because I talked to Mandy?"

That was it, that one sentenced seemed to flip a switch in his brother. With one move he'd shoved him back until his back hit the wall so hard he bounced back off of it.

"What the hell Lip, I tell you something and the first thing you do is go running to Mandy? Why would you do that?"

"I was worried about you. No one knows Mickey is gay they all think he's a homophobe and for good reason. He kicks the crap out of any queer that crosses his path. Case in point." He was so angry he didn't even think when he tapped his brothers black eye to get his point across. Just like that it was on.

Ian swung his fist full force catching him in the stomach making him double over in pain. He knew there would be a new bruise there in the morning. Clenching his fist ready to retaliate he started to unfold himself and looked up. Unfortunately he was at eye level with his brothers neck and those bruises broke his heart and his will to fight. 

"Go ahead, kick the crap out of me if you think it will make you feel better. But I'm telling you right now no matter how much damage you do to me it won't erase what he already did to you."

Seeing his brothers eyes fill with tears just somehow made it all worse. His brother never cried not even when Frank laid into him. Whatever Mickey did, must have been beyond bad.

"I'm, I'm just gonna go to bed. I'll see you in the morning Lip."

With that his brother just shuffled out of the bathroom without so much as glancing back. Mickey Milkovich had managed to do in two months what Frank Gallagher hadn't managed in nearly two decades. He'd broken Ian.


	4. Family Concern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gallaghers call in reinforcements.

[](http://s1063.photobucket.com/user/kasey19391/media/Chapter%20art/One%20more%20night/Chapter%204.jpg.html)

  


Lip woke up early the next day but Ian was already gone. A part of him was relieved, he didn't want to see Ian before he had this conversation with Fiona. If he did he might just grab Fi's baseball bat and go find himself a Milkovich instead.

Walking downstairs he helped his sister get all the younger kids ready for school the whole time trying to decide what to say. When it was finally just him, Fiona, and Steve he sat at the counter while she cleaned up the breakfast mess.

"Get a move on Lip or you'll be late for school."

"Yeah, I don't think I'm going today. We need to talk Fi."

He watched her head snap back to look at him and horror fill her eyes.

"Please, just tell me you didn't get Karen pregnant." Well that explained the look.

"No, no , nothing like that. We need to talk about Ian."

"What about him?"

Glancing at Steve he thought about asking him to leave but then decided against it. The older guy might have some good ideas on how to handle this.

"I know we've never actually talked about it but you know Ian's gay right?"

"Yeah, so what? Did someone find out? Is someone hassling him? Ian! Come down here!" He watched the thought of someone messing with Ian make his sister turn into a fierce warrior and was glad. They were gonna need that fire soon enough.

"He's not up there Fiona. He already left. Ian's been seeing this guy who's like so deep in the closet he couldn't find the door if he wanted to. Ian told me about it to ask my advice on something and when this guy found out I knew he... Well he beat the crap out of Ian for telling me."

"He did what? Who is this guy, do you know his name? Is Ian okay? He didn't hurt him to bad did he?" Her concern made this so much easier but it was still hard to keep his anger out of his voice when he thought of what Mickey had done to his brother.

"Ian wouldn't talk to me about it but he had a black eye and a split lip like the guy hit him and uh there were all these bruises around his neck like the guy choked him or something. He waited until he thought everyone would be asleep before he came home last night and he left before we woke up this morning. I don't know what to do Fi, I don't want to make things worse but I'm worried for him."

As he described Ian's injuries Fiona had clenched her fists tighter and tighter in rage until the end when he thought she must be cutting into her palm with her nails by now. A glance at Steve showed him just as concerned and angry as the rest of them. The guy really was an honorary Gallagher.

"Do you know who this guy is?"

"Yeah, but after I tell you, you can't tell anyone. Just my knowing got Ian hurt this bad I don't want this guy thinking that his message didn't take and that Ian's still going around telling the rest of his family."

That was his main concern when talking to Fiona about this not that she wouldn't know what to do, but that they would all do the wrong thing and get Ian hurt even more. Just asking Mandy vague questions about Mickey in general had gotten his brother hurt he didn't want to be the cause of anything else happening to him.

"I got it Lip now tell me."

"Mickey Milkovich."

"You've got to be shitting me. How the hell did Ian end up with that homophobic prick?"

"It's a long story that has to do with Ian's last boyfriend. What happened was ..."

Fiona listened throughout the entire story of Ian's love life of late and could barely keep from getting sick. Her baby brother went from one highly inappropriate relationship to another and she'd never even noticed. 

She'd always sort of left Ian to his own devices. He'd always done better that way. He was the one who almost never got into trouble, the one she never had to worry about and now she realized she was wrong to think that. He was the one she should have been worrying about the most. 

He was the one who'd needed her and she failed him.

After a few hours they decided that Steve would take Liam and go pick up Debbie and Carl. He would keep the kids away from the house for a few hours so she and Lip could try and talk some sense into Ian. If that didn't work then they would gather all their courage and go to the source. Mickey.

Ian got home just after three when the house should have been a madhouse making it easy for him to slip in unnoticed and straight to his room. What he found instead was Fiona and Lip sitting in the kitchen waiting for him.

"Sit down Ian we need to talk."

Seeing his brothers injuries in the harsh light of day make Lip sick. The bruises had all darkened and stood out against his pale skin making him look hopefully worse than he felt. Because if he felt as he looked he couldn't help but wince at that thought. Looking over at Fiona he saw her on the verge of tears and knew they had to start this talk now or risk neither of them being in the right frame of mind to do it.

"You need help Ian."

"I don't.."

"Look man this isn't some chickflick movie of the week where I point out you need help and you deny it. Then I say you're in a bad situation and you make excuses for Mickey. We're just not gonna do that okay. You are a smart guy, I should know I taught you most everything you know, and you know that this isn't right. You know that what's happening between you and Mickey is abuse and you know that you need to leave this relationship.

"Now that we've covered everything you already know let's move on to the things you might have missed. Fiona and I know you, inside and out, and we love you. Debbie, Carl, and Liam love you more than anything. You're the big brother who knows about all that outdoors-y camping crap and who helps them with their feelings. So since math isn't really your strongest subject I'll break it down to basics for you. That's five siblings who love you unconditionally and who want you around for a very long time versus one prick of a boyfriend who makes it where you feel the need to sneak around and hide bruises from us. Now that we've done the math and laid it all out for you, now you tell us what comes next."

Fiona waited until he was done before she jumped him with her two cents worth.

"If you decide to leave Mickey I will buy more baseball bats and we'll stand guard until he goes away. We'll have your back no matter what until you can walk out that door without fear of a Milkovich coming at you. We will stick with you through all of it. If you decide to stay with Mickey then Lip and I will hound you everyday until you change your mind and start seeing yourself for who you really are. A bright, funny, courageous, handsome guy who deserves way better than someone who hurts him. Before you decide though do me a favor and think about it like this for a minute. What if it was Debbie whose boyfriend decided she was just some punching bag huh? What would you do then?"

Ian tried to stop crying but he couldn't he knew they were waiting in the other room for him to tell them he was leaving Mickey but he didn't know if he could. Beyond the fact that Mickey scared him, and what he thought Mickey would do to him if he left, he kind of thought he might just be in love with the son of a bitch. Now the only thing he had to decide was, was the love he thought he felt worth the pain he was in? Decision made he got up, brushed the tears from his face and walked out of the house to go face Mickey... one last time.

Their cards laid out on the table they both got up and walked into the living room giving Ian the space he needed to know that this decision was his to make. They would be there for him no matter what. As long as he knew that then this was a productive day, no matter what he decided. The sound of the back door closing had them both jumping up and racing to the kitchen. Ian was gone. Looking at each other they tried not to freak out. He would be back, they knew that, he always came back. Always.

Mickey was in his room when Gallagher opened the door and stepped inside. He hadn't seen him since his lesson and he had to admit those bruises showed up even better than he'd thought they would against his pale flesh.

"What do you want Gallagher? You here for a little make up sex?"

"It's over Mickey." Those words stopped him dead in his tracks.

"What the hell you talking about over? What's over?" He better not be saying what he thought he was.

"We're over Mickey. I deserve better than this Mickey, better than you. We're done."

With that Gallagher just turned and left. He could have stopped him if he really wanted to, easily really, but he just let him go. He didn't really know what to do here. No one had ever walked out on him before. Ever. Looking up as the door opened again he found Mandy standing in the doorway staring at him.

"Happy now Mick?"

"Shut up!"

She left just as quickly as she'd come leaving him sitting there. Alone. No, no way this was not over, not by a long shot. He was as happy as he'd ever been with Gallagher and he would get him back. They would be happy again. Together.


	5. Next Step

[](http://s1063.photobucket.com/user/kasey19391/media/Chapter%20art/One%20more%20night/Chapter%205.jpg.html)

  


Ian had come back a few hours earlier and both Lip and Fiona had studied him closely looking for new bruises before asking him what happened.

"It's over."

That was it, that's all he said, before heading up to his room to wait for dinner. They decided to leave him alone with his own thoughts for the night focusing instead on what to do next. Sure Ian had left Mickey but they both knew that wouldn't be the end of it, from what they knew of Mickey he really wasn't the type to take rejection well. 

"So what now?" Lip knew it wasn't fair to look to Fiona for all the answers all the time, it wasn't like she was that much older than he was, but he didn't know where to even start this time.

"I don't know Lip, this is sorta new territory for all of us, for all the shitty relationships we've all had none of us have ever dealt with someone like Mickey before. Part of me just wants to pull him out of school and make him quite his job and keep him with me all day long where I can keep an eye on him and make sure he stays safe."

"Yeah I know what you mean, but we can't do that and you know it. I'll keep watch over him at school and we really need the money his job brings in so we'll have to come up with something for while he's there to. I mean Kash already knows about Ian and Mickey so maybe we could get him to help out. I know the little pervs a coward be he could at least give us a call if something goes down at the store, or even keep Mickey out of the place I mean it is his place right." Not that he really thought Kash would be a big help, hell his wife had bigger balls than he did.

"Won't hurt to bring it up I guess, we'll go there tomorrow morning before you have to get to school and figure it out on that end. I'll have Steve take Ian to school instead of letting him walk then you can meet him there after we're done. After that you walk with him every day until this blows over, I don't want him alone for very long, no telling what Mickey will do."

That was beyond true, while they had always known Mickey or hell all the Milkovich clan were kind of psycho, they had never guessed Mickey was this messed up.

"What about the others?" The more people in the know for now the better off Ian would be, they needed help, protection from the Milkovich's wasn't something two people could pull off. While Steve already knew about it, he didn't KNOW about it yet, not really. Hearing and seeing were two very different things in this case.

"What about them?" God he loved his sister, but sometimes the bigger picture just totally eluded her.

"What the hell are we gonna tell them Fi? Deb and Carl might still be young but their not stupid they'll notice all the changes we'll be making to the day to day of the Gallagher way, not to mention when Ian comes down to dinner his face is gonna totally give it away that something is a little off here." The last thing they needed was for the others to start making a big fuss over Ian's new look. His brother was already on shaky ground, he needed everything to go back to normal again if he was ever going to get back to normal himself.

"Okay so we'll meet them outside when Steve gets them back here and we'll lay it out for them." Sounded like a plan only one more thing to decide.

"What about Vee and Kev? They're here almost every day, hell they're practically family, do we tell them to?"

He knew this had the potential to completely blow up in their faces here, Mickey went totally ape shit when Ian had just told him about their twisted little relationship. How would he react to the entire Gallagher clan both blood and honorary members knowing and uniting against him. He wasn't stupid he knew Mickey was going to try to get Ian back, one way or another, he was just worried what shape that attempt would take and something told him having more people in the know would either be the best thing for Ian or the worst. Only time would tell which one though.

"We tell 'em. I'll text Steve tell him to text me when they're on their way, when he does you go get Vee and Kev and bring them over we'll tell them all together then we'll all have dinner here."

"Sounds like a plan." Now he only hoped that it worked.

Ian heard his family downstairs planning and scheming to keep him and Mickey apart, talking about bringing more and more people into it, even going to Kash for help. All he could think the entire time, wasn't how embarrassed he would be when all these people found out his secret, no he was only silently counting to himself how many rules his family was about to break and silently prayed that he and Mickey never did get back together because he didn't think he would survive the punishment for this. Hell he wasn't even sure he would want to even if he could.

Fiona stood out in her front yard trying to stay calm. Steve and the kids were only a few minutes out and Lip would be back with her friends soon and she was going over what was to come in her mind over and over again. She was second guessing everything! Should she tell them all out here so Ian wouldn't overhear them? But what if she did that and someone else overheard instead? Were Carl and Debbie too young for this drama? But what if she left them out of it and something happened while they were around and it caught them totally off guard?

Finally the car pulled up just as Lip, Kev, and Vee were walking through the gate leaving her with no more time to agonize and making her just react, like usual. 

"Is this gonna be another 'Gallagher emergency'?" Kev demanded good naturedly using air quotes to get his point across, causing Vee to elbow him in the stomach.

"Shut up Kev. What ever it is Fi we are totally here for you one hundred percent, aren't we Kev?"

"Yes, honey, you're right as always."

"Thanks for the support guys let's go inside and have a seat in the living room and I'll explain everything."

Getting everyone settled she made sure that Deb and Carl were both near Lip and Steve since they both already knew most if not all of what she was about to say she reasoned they would be the least reactive, so the least likely to scare them with their outbursts. Standing in front of everyone she began her little speech.

"Alright I don't know how many of you already figured this out for yourselves but Ian is well..." She couldn't say it, she just couldn't make herself out her own brother without his permission even if it was for his own good. Fortunately Lip had no such problems.

"Ian's gay."

No one said anything at first not even Carl or Debbie who just looked at each other like they were having a silent conversation. Most likely that conversation consisted mostly of I told you so.

"Fi I hope you didn't call us over here psyching us all up for that bombshell, cause gotta tell you less of a bomb and more of a fourth of july popper." Kev as usual taking everything in stride.

"Yeah honey, I hope you and Ian know we don't care about something like that." Vee almost sounded hurt at the idea that they thought she would actually care about something like that.

"Oh, we know that, and that's not why you're here, that was just me making sure you all knew that before we get to the problem."

"What problem?"

"Ian's ex-boyfriend, well one of his ex-boyfriends anyway." Thankfully Lip chimed in again when she got tongue tied. Together they might just be able to get through this entire thing.

"What about him? Is he being a dick cause if he is Kev will totally kick his adolescent ass, won't you honey." Vee, always willing to lend out her honey in times of need.

"Yes, dear." And Kev always willing to agree with Vee.

"Unfortunately it's not that simple, and Kev before you comit to that you might want to ask who Ian's ex is."

"What's the big, as long as it's not someone like Mickey Milkovich we'll totally be fine."

"Funny you should mention Mickey cause... well -" She didn't even have to finish, they all got it right off.

"No fucking way, Mickey "homo hater" Milkovich is in reality a fucking homo!"

"Sit the fuck down Kev, I got the feeling there's more to this story than just that."

"Alright I'll sit down, no need to hit me, but I can't wait to get to work tomorrow this is the juiciest piece of info to ever cross the threshold of the Alibi."

"NO!" She and Lip started yelling at the same time. 

"NO! You can't do that Kevin! The last time Mickey found out someone knew about him because of Ian is why we're here now."

"Why what happened?" She could all but see Vee's big Gallagher loving heart already breaking in her eyes.

"He beat him Vee, really bad."

"Yeah and it was all because Mandy found out Ian had told me about it and I hadn't even told anyone else either. You can't breathe a word of this Kev."

"Why the fuck are we even here?" She knew from his tone that he was already on the fence about opening his mouth about this and she already knew what would seal it forever.

"You're here so you can help us keep an eye on Ian to help make sure this doesn't happen again. He broke up with Mickey but something tells me this is far from over." Without another word to them she yelled up the stairs. "Ian can you come down for a minute!"

Going back over to everyone else she sat on the coffee table in front of Debbie and Carl taking their hands in her own.

"Are you two doing alright with this?"

They both nodded, neither of them caring about Ian being gay, but both caring a great deal for Ian himself.

"How can we help Ian?"

"We'll talk about it after dinner alright, we don't want to talk about it in front of Ian right now, he's still hurting and we don't want to make it worse okay."

"Okay."

"Okay."

Hearing Ian on the stairs they all turned to greet him and froze in horror. This wasn't the happy, enthusiastic, outgoing Ian they all knew and loved. This Ian was a man who'd been beaten down and didn't look like he thought it was safe to get back up yet. Looking over at Kevin she saw her answer, he would keep quiet about Mickey, hell they'd all do anything to keep this from happening again.


	6. Circling the Wagons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fiona and Lip come up with a plan for the "family" to protect Ian from Mickey, but has Mickey already countered them without them even knowing?

[](http://s1063.photobucket.com/user/kasey19391/media/Chapter%20art/One%20more%20night/Chapter%206_1.jpg.html)

  


Dinner went about as well as could be expected, everyone avoided the topic of Mickey or Ian's new look. By the time Ian very quietly asked to be excused everyone was extremely on edge from all the things they had yet to say. After they all heard the door to the boys room close everyone let it all out.

"That no good son of a -"

"Who the hell does Mickey think he is, he can't just -"

"Poor baby, I just want to grab Ian and -"

"How do we help him Fiona?"

Fiona and Lip just waited for everyone to get it out of their systems, they didn't even try to take over until all the yelling finally died down. 

"Okay, so this is as far as we've gotten so far with the plan. Tomorrow morning before school Lip and I are going to see Kash to see if he'll be any help with protecting Ian at work. Beyond that we never leave him alone. Lip will walk with him to and from school every day, when he can't be with one of us for whatever reason we'll send him to sit with Kev at the Alibi, if that's alright."

"Sure Fi, anything for Ian you know that."

Everyone here loved Ian with all their heart, and now they were all going to protect him with all they had. She just hoped it would be enough.

Mickey made his way into the Kash-n-Grab just before closing. He knew that Kash's little fem nazi wife had taken their two brats for an 'extended vacation' to her mother's house. Which he knew was just fancy grown-up talk for the bitch finally got wise and left him. For now at least, with the new baby on the way he knew she'd be back soon enough, which was why he had to get this whole thing set up now. 

"Hey, Kash, how you been? Long time no punch buddy." Watching the older man flinch just from his words was a mood boost he really needed just then. It made him smile.

"Mickey, what are you doing here? Ian didn't work today."

He said that like Mickey didn't have Ian's work schedule memorized, when they both knew he did. He always knew where to find Ian.

"I know that dumbass, I'm here to see you. You see there's a lot I haven't done for you Kash. I haven't gone to the cops about your underage sex habits, I haven't beaten you within an inch of your sanity for ever putting you middle aged hands on Ian, and most of all I haven't burned your shitty little store here to the ground with you inside of it. Now, after all the things I haven't done for you don't you think I'm owed a little something from you?" The dark skinned man got paler and paler with every scenario he listed off. By the end of it he was pretty much as pale as someone of his color could get.

"What do you want Mickey? Money?"

"Sort of. Here is what you're going to do for me...."

Kash opened up his store the next morning with the worst feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. He had of course done what Mickey had asked of him the night before, but he was also certain that there was more to the story than what he knew. When he looked up at the sound of the bell and saw Ian's older brother and sister standing there looking at him with determination lighting their faces his certainty turned into a dead weight in his chest.

"Can I help you?"

"We hope so. We're here about Ian... and Mickey."

"I'm sorry I don't know what you're-" He tried to deflect, to not be caught giving away information about Mickey, but he knew it wouldn't work. Honestly he didn't know why he even tried anymore.

"Save it pervo, we already know about you and Ian, and we know about Mickey and Ian, and frankly I am fighting a very strong urge to just deck you on principle. Good news for you though is that no matter how fucked up your thing with my brother was it has nothing on his new thing with that grimey thug so you're being cut some slack." What was it with everyone threatening him with bodily harm lately. He'd known when he and Ian had began their little arrangement that there was always the possibility that someone would find out and violence would be a factor in that revelation but he was beginning to understand just how severely he'd underestimated everyone's reactions. He'd thought that that because of Ian's age people would overlook it for the most part, he had been wrong.

"Look Kash, we didn't come here to give you a hard time, we came here to let you know a few things and then to ask you a favor. Not for us, but for Ian." He could tell from the look in Fiona's eyes that while she hated him almost as much as her brother, and she found him disgusting in that way that it seemed only women could, she was trying to be civil in the hopes of getting what she wanted.

He nodded his head for them to continue but he had a feeling that whatever their favor was Mickey's request last night had already countered it.

By the time the Gallaghers left with his assurances ringing in their ears he felt like he was going to be sick. Ian had managed to find the will to pull himself away from Mickey, and now he was going to be a part of helping to shove him back towards his abuser. Again he thought about how if he was a better man, a more courageous man, he would have told Mickey to go to hell and taken his chances. He was a grown man after all and Ian was still so very young, it would be the right thing to do, for him to stand up to Mickey and help keep Ian safe and protected. For the second time though, he knew that what he should do and what he would do would not be the same. 

Ian made it to Kash's store without incident and with his older brother standing across the street waiting for him to get inside before he would leave, like he was Carl's age or something. He understood their reasoning and he was even thankful for all the protection but he had a very unsettling feeling deep inside that none of it would do any good. 

His family thought that they knew Mickey and what he was capable of, hell they even had a back up plan a last resort which involved going to Terry about the whole thing. That just proved to him how unprepared his family was. He hadn't spent a lot of time with the entire Milkovich family, he mainly split his time between hanging out with Mandy and doing everything he could to keep Mickey happy, but there were times when he would see the others and what he saw didn't add up to what he'd thought he'd known before his thing with Mickey had started.

Mickey was the one in control over at the Milkovich house, he was the one giving out the orders even to Terry, all the others were just as afraid of him as he was. He hadn't understood it at first until one night when he'd come out of Mickey's room on his way home after Mickey was done with him to find Mickey and Terry fighting. Mickey had Terry pinned to the floor and was punching him in the face repeatedly, Terry had tried to fight back, to at least block some of the blows but Mickey had countered every move he made and had beaten him easily. 

When Mickey had gotten up off the very bloody man on the floor he'd yelled about people not doing as they're told. When Mickey had turned and saw him there in the doorway he'd pushed him back into the bedroom and he hadn't been able to limp back home until the next morning. Fighting really did get Mickey's blood up, he supposed he should have remembered that before giving in to his family's demands that he leave him. 

What his family had wanted had seemed reasonable, right up until he remembered exactly who Mickey Milkovich was.

"Hey firecrotch." Spinning around he found Mickey leaning against the magazine rack by the door dressed in the security jacket that the store kept for the few times a year they could afford to hire someone to stand guard over their merchandise.

"Mickey?"

"Looks like we're working together."


	7. Hard Days Work

[](http://s1063.photobucket.com/user/kasey19391/media/Chapter%20art/One%20more%20night/Chapter%206.jpg.html)

  


Kash knew that Mickey wanting a _job_ at the store had been a bad idea from the start, but telling him no hadn’t really been an option, not if he wanted to still have store. He knows what's going to happen next, and if the look of terror flashing across Ian's face was any indication he does as well. He has tried to lie to himself all day waiting for Ian to begin his shift, to tell himself that he doesn't _know_ what's going to happen after he does what Mickey wants him to, but the lie falls flat even when he's only telling it to himself.

Bowing his head in shame he does what Mickey told him to do, something he's beginning to see everyone does in the end, there is no fighting Mickey, not really. He'll find your weak spot every time and aim for it.

"Ian you're doing inventory in the back today, I'll run the front." The look of betrayal Ian shoots him as he shuffles past towards the stock room is the only sign that he knows exactly what's happening. That he knows that he is a lowly coward, who never deserved him in the first place.

Mickey smirks that damned infuriating smirk of his as he follows right behind him. He tries not to think about the sound of the lock sliding into place as the door closes behind them both.

Keeping his eyes trained on the front door he resolutely ignores the back of the store. He will focus on his customers and nothing else, he knows it's the easy way out, but it's all he can think to do.

There's nothing he can do, nothing he's willing to do, to help Ian so he'll focus on everything else and leave Ian to help himself. If there's a way out he's sure Ian will find it, he's smart like that. As the bell above the door rings he plasters on his best fake smile and gets to work.

Ian stands in the corner facing a rack of beer, he refuses to look at Mickey he can't yet. Not until he can hear something besides the rush of blood in his ears, or feel something besides his heart pounding under his skin.

"Mickey-" He tried to explain, to say something, anything to calm him down.

"Shut up Ian. I don't want to hear it right now! Now I got a gaggle of Gallaghers all up in my personal business, Lip was bad enough but now you've gone and blabbed to everyone else. What am I supposed to do now Ian, hmmm? You tell me!" He could almost feel the heat of his anger rolling off his skin. Not only had he gone against him, but he'd tried to leave him too, all in the same day. He would be lucky if he was still breathing at the end of his shift.

Part of him wanted to defend himself, to tell Mickey that he hadn’t been the one to talk, to tell him that Lip was the one who had gone to Fiona. He couldn’t do that though, not to his brother.

"I'm sorry Mickey-" He had to try even though he knew he wouldn't listen. Not this time, not after what he'd already done.

" _I'm sorry Mickey. I won't do it again Mickey. I didn't mean to Mickey_. Save it Ian, I've heard it all from you before, after you went and opened your big mouth the first time. I let you off easy then, and look where that's gotten us. So now you tell me, no more excuses and apologies, what am I supposed to do now? Huh? You obviously think that I'm just full a hot air that I'm all talk, right?" Mickey was still standing near the door across the room from him, but that did nothing to ease the fear he was drowning in.

"No." He really didn't think that, he knew for a fact that Mickey had all kinds of follow through.

"Well you must otherwise you wouldn't have done this, you would have thought twice about it all and come to the right conclusion. _If I do this I'm gonna be in a world of hurt_ , but no you came to a different ending didn't you. You thought _if I do this I can just walk away_ , because Mickey is such a pussy he won't do anything. All I have to do is tell him that it's over and that will be the end of it. Is that what you thought?”

He couldn’t answer, he knew no matter what he said Mickey would just get angrier, so he tried to keep silent. Even though he knew that wouldn’t work either.

“Is it?"

"No.” In fact he had known that simply telling Mickey that they were over was pretty much the worst thing he could do, but it was also the only option. Especially now, with his whole family finding out about the two of them. 

“You keep saying this shit Ian. _I didn’t think it. I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry_. I’m tired of hearing this shit from you. Time to put some fucking actions behind those words. Prove you mean what you say. Come on Ian prove it to me. If you don’t really wanna leave me, show me.”

He knew what Mickey was asking for, what he was demanding. Now he just had to decide, and quickly, what he was going to do. He could fight him, keep his word to his family, try to prove that he really did want out. Or, he could give in to what _he_ knew was inevitable, because as much as he loved his family they really didn’t know Mickey. They knew what he used to know, before he finally saw the truth. They thought that there was a way around Mickey, a way out, he knew there really wasn’t.

Closing his eyes in defeat, he moved towards Mickey rather than farther away. The smirk tugging at Mickey’s lips told him more than anything that he’d also known there had really been no choice at all. Choice implied options, and really when it came to Mickey and what he wanted there were no other options, you simply did what he said. When he was finally within arm’s reach of his former boyfriend he did the only thing he could do and still call himself a Gallagher. He punched him right in the face. When he thought about it, it truly had been the only option left to him. 

Lip stood on the sidewalk and waited for Ian to get off work. His shift should have ended about ten minutes ago, but that wasn’t unusual really, so he decided to just stand back and wait for a few more minutes before he went in to drag Ian out.

**A/N – I had actually planned for Mickey to try to WIN Ian back. He was gonna try to change his ways but not really succeed. Like buying Ian flowers but getting so frustrated with the conversation while he’s trying to give them to him that he destroys them and then this chapter would be the end result after a few chapters. Who knows maybe I’ll turn my plans for those scenes into series of one-shots as a companion for this fic. Anyway when I went to write it that way, Mickey would not cooperate. No matter what I tried to write he was just standing there leaning against the wall shaking his head and snarking at me. Asking “Why do I need to win him back, he’s fucking mine already.” So in the end this is what we got instead. Jeeze, sometimes Mickey can be a real pain in the ass to write, but I love him anyway. Hope you liked the finished product it took a while to get it right.**


	8. Chapter 8 - Falling Through

  
  


Lip looked around as he finished his cigarette, still no sign of Ian, the worry he felt was beginning to grow to new heights. While in theory Ian should be safe inside the store, with each passing second without so much as a glimpse of his brother that theory became less and less sound. Taking one last puff he started towards the building set on putting his own mind at ease, maybe Ian was just caught up finishing something for Kash and didn’t notice the time, it wouldn’t be the first time that happened, though it hadn’t happened since the two had stopped hooking up.

Opening the door the bell sounded deafening as he saw Mickey leaning against the counter reading a magazine and looking completely and utterly bored. He had a fresh split in his lip that he kept touching with his tongue and a shit eating grin that he wanted to smack right off his smug little face. Kash sat at the register behind him with his eyes downcast, never looking up from his own hands like the coward he is. Taking all this in there was only one question echoing in his mind.

“Where’s Ian?” He didn’t know what he expected, for Kash to finally man up after a lifetime of cowardice and tell him that Ian was safe locked away in his office just waiting for Lip to come and take him home. Or for Mickey to do a total one eighty and say he’d given up on tormenting his little brother and wanted to turn over a new leaf. All he got was deafening silence ringing in his ears, until Mickeys voice finally filled the void left by his question. 

“Gallagher’s in the back. Inventory right Kash?” The bastard actually paused for an answer, an answer that spineless Kash actually gave. Like a fucking loyal dog barking on command.

“Yeah, that’s right.” Even while speaking to them the man’s eyes never left his hands.

“Been back there all shift.” Oh god.

Rushing towards the store room he ignored Mickey’s snarky remarks about Ians work ethic as the door swung open and revealed his brother bleeding and broken on the sticky linoleum floor. Oh god.

Part of him, a large part, wanted to turn around the beat the shit out of Mickey and Kash both. To make them hurt as much as Ian obviously was. He could practically feel Mickey’s breath on the back of his neck, just waiting for him to make the stupid choice, the obvious choice. The Southside choice. If he did that though, there was a greater than average chance he would lose, that he would end up on the floor beside his brother their blood mixing together on the shitty floor, and Ian would still be at the mercy of that abusive son of a bitch until someone at the house got suspicious enough to come here looking for them. Hell with their luck the gutless wonder at the front of the store would lie about them having left already, and Fiona would believe him like they both believed that he would look after Ian.

Moving forward he bent down to help his brother to his feet, he would get him home even if he had to drag him there. 

Stepping out onto the sidewalk he could barely hear Mickey’s parting words over the rushing winds.

“See you tomorrow Ian.” Like hell.

Fiona didn’t know what to do, she came home from a day working in a glorified strip club getting her ass pinched by rowdy drunks to find Vee in her kitchen trying to keep Ian from losing what blood he had left in him. At first she’d gone off thinking that Mickey had tried to kill Ian for leaving him, but Vee said that while Ian looked bad and probably felt worse his injuries were mainly superficial. This beating was meant to punish not kill.

“What do we do Fi?” She wished not for the first time since this whole shit show started that there was someone else they could look to for answers, because he was fresh out. 

She was so far out of her depth with this, things like this just hadn’t ever come up within the family before. The closest thing to an abusive relationship they had ever seen was Frank and Monica, but they had abused each other and it was mostly verbal between them.

“I don’t know Lip, plan B I guess.” Which had better fucking work since there was no plan C.

“Go to Terry.” It was the only thing left to do, someone had to reign Mickey in and his father was the only one that could do that. Owing Terry a favor, while simultaneously outing Ian to him wasn’t ideal but it was starting to look like protecting Ian from Terry would be a hell of a lot easier than trying to keep Mickey off his back.

“No.” Looking over towards Ian, preparing to comfort him if the pain was getting too much, she saw raw panic in his eyes. “Don’t go to Terry, big mistake, don’t go to Terry.”

“Ian look I know that Terry is a scary guy, but we can at least keep him off your ass while he keeps Mickey on a leash.” And God knew someone needed to put a leash on that son of a bitch, and a muzzle, and might as well neuter him for effect during this little mental fantasy.

“No, Terry is afraid of Mickey, he’ll tell him. Don’t go to Terry, you’ll just make it worse.” The very idea of worse seemed to make him shake in his seat, and no wonder if this was getting off light in the world of Milchovich. 

“Okay Ian, we’ll think of something else, I promise we won’t go to Terry.” 

But if Terry wasn’t an option what was left? Terry was the biggest baddest son of a bitch to ever stalked the mean streets they called home. He was the crazy bastard that even the crazies avoided, and if he was afraid of his own son, this man who wasn’t afraid of anything or anyone, what did that make Mickey? Worse?

The cops? As if. All of Southie knew how useless they were, hell half of them were on the take and the other half were just too damn lazy to be crooked. Tony might have been an option if it was anyone other than the Milkovich family. Not to mention the shit going down right now wasn’t even illegal, unless you wanted to press charges for assault and be labeled a whiney snitching bitch for the rest of your days.

Kash was useless as a stop gap, the coward couldn’t even protect himself from Mickey let alone Ian. Ian would have to quit his job, and they really needed the money he brought in, he helped them through some of the tighter parts of the month. Maybe Kev could hire him on at the Alibi, have him bus tables or something, she knew he would look out for her baby brother at least.

No, it looked like the only thing left to do was circle the wagons and look after Ian themselves. They could do this, they were Gallaghers they could do anything! Right now though what they had to do was put Ian to bed and let him get some sleep. Tomorrow they would figure this shit out.

Lip stood outside the Milkovich house and waited for Mandy to come out, he texted her that they needed to talk and talk they would, about her psycho brother. If they couldn’t go to Terry for protection they at least needed to go to someone for advice. Someone used to dealing with Mickey on a regular basis. Someone who cared about Ian enough to maybe bend the rules a little, if not break them.

“What do you want to talk about Lip?” Looking up he found Mandy standing on her front porch waiting for him to speak his peace. Taking a deep breathe he opened his mouth and hoped that in doing so he wouldn’t make things even worse for his brother all over again. He knew Mandy told Mickey about their last conversation, but he also knew that there was a way to maybe get around that this time. All he had to do was play on the one soft spot she had.

“Ian needs your help.” This wasn’t about Lip trying to get information about her family, this was about her best friend being in a world of pain. This was about the one person they both loved with all their might.

Mickey laid across his bed and thought about his day at work. As days went it was as productive as he could have hoped for, he knew Ian wasn’t ready to come crawling back yet, but he would be soon enough. He had the Gallagher pride that was hard to crack, but he would get him in the end, he always got his way in the end.

Flexing his fingers he felt the tug and burn of his healing knuckles with pride, Ian had put up a good fight for such a scared little rabbit. Maybe after this all blew over and everyone was back in their proper place he and Ian would start fighting for real, just to keep things interesting. Oh yes, the future looked fucking bright indeed.


End file.
